Beyond Earth
by TVfan
Summary: Third in series. Basically, my take on The Agenda The transwarp shockwave is detected as the Beast Wars go beyond Earth.
1. Chapter 1

Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place shortly after "The Battle in the Valley".

Beyond Earth

By TVfan

**Predicon Space Station**

"We have a code one alert!" a computer voice announced breaking the silence inside the station, "Repeat, a code one alert."

"What it is it?" the lone Predicon on duty asked as he leaped to the station's control consoles.

"Transwarp shockwave approaching station," the computer answered.

"Raise shields!" the Predicon screamed.

The Predicon's scream was too late as the shockwave suddenly slammed into the station, slamming the Predicon into the far wall, causing him to black out.

It was hours later when the Predicon woke up, and he wished he hadn't. He woke up to the glaring face of the station's commander.

"Report," the Commander growled, "What just hit us?"

"It was a transwarp shockwave, sir," the Predicon answered nervously.

"Can you verify the location?" the Commander asked.

The Predicon jumped to feet and hurried to his consoles once more, frantically pushing buttons to get the job done as quickly as possible. The Commander meanwhile watched the results on a screen with a rather intrigued look, one that turned to nearly fear.

"Leave the room," the Commander said coldly, "I will need to speak with the council."

**Secret Predicon Base, Cybertron**

"You're sure?" a large hulking figure questioned through a nearby communications device.

"Yes, we are positive, sir," was the response over the radio.

"Thank you," the figure answered, pressing a button that terminated his connection to he had just been speaking to, and then pressed another, "Members, we meet in Council in ten cycles."

**Predicon Base, Earth**

"What is the status?" Megatron demanded.

"Waspinator has found no sign of fleshie bots," Waspinator answered over his radio.

"Not them, you fool," Megatron growled, and then looked down towards a projection unit, which held the Golden Disks when they were still in his possession, "Have you found any energy signatures matching the alien life forms or at least Maximal stasis pods?"

"No," Waspinator answered.

"Keep searching," Megatron growled, and then thought angrily to himself, "Blast Dinobot! That traitor has cost me the best possible way of winning the Beast Wars. Now, I'm stuck with nothing but gambling."

**Elsewhere**

Dinobot sat in beast mode on a cliff over looking a valley and the Axalon beyond. Deep in thought, he barely noticed Rapther come and sit by him.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Rapther offered.

"It is nothing for you to be concerned about," Dinobot answered.

"You're not thinking about getting into some battle with Megatron over your honor again, are you?" Rapther asked, "Because I don't want to have to keep you alive again."

"No, it is not," Dinobot answered, "And why should you care anyway?"

"Because I'm a Maximal, and because you're pleasant company," Rapther retorted, "Better than most males I've known, anyway."

"I won't be 'company' much longer," Dinobot replied in a defeated voice as he gazed at the Axalon.

"You're not going back to the Predicons are you?" Rapther asked.

"No," Dinobot answered, and then sighed, "The transwarp explosion that destroyed the alien moon has entered Cybertron's solar system. It is now only a matter of time before a rescue ship is dispatched. If Maximal, I will be arrested and imprisoned. If Predicon, I will be destroyed as a traitor. Not an honorable fate."

"I won't let that happen," Rapther promised, "You will return to Cybertron with honor, I promise you."

Dinobot glanced at the female raptor as she scooted closer to him, but remained silent.

"Awwww," Rattrap chuckled as he glanced out one of the Axalon's windows.

"What are you chuckling about?" Cheetor asked as he came up towards Rattrap's position.

"Ol' Chopperface and his girlfriend out there on the hill," Rattrap answered, "Don't they make a lovely couple?"

Cheetor began to engage his friend in a short conversation, and failed to notice Silverbolt returning to the base behind them.

**Secret Predicon Base, Cybertron**

Three shadowy figures sat around a large metallic circular table.

"This meeting of the Tripredicus Council is now in session," the first figure announced.

The other members nodded before the first figure began speaking again.

"Recently, one of our space stations was hit by a transwarp shockwave traveling through time and space," the figure announced, "They have traced the signal. It came from prehistoric Earth in the Terran Sector of Space, and the warp signature matches that of the Darkside."

"The Darkside?" the second figure gasped, "That means…"

"Megatron," the first figure nodded, "I know, General Seaclamp."

"I thought we were finished with him," the third figure answered, "The Maximal ship Axalon intercepted them."

"It appears that our presumption was false," the first figure sighed, "The real problem is that this shockwave will be detected by the Maximals shortly. While we agreed to punish Megatron if we ever found out that he survived, we have also agreed that his treachery has been beneficial for our cause. The Maximal fleet is spread thin to find their lost Optimus Primal. But should the Maximals detect this shockwave…"

"They will learn of Megatron's location and thus Optimus Primal's," General Seaclamp finished.

"We can't allow that to happen," the third figure growled, "If I know Megatron, he'll drag us down with him should the Maximals investigate."

"I agree General Cicadacon," the first figure nodded, "That leaves us with one risky option."

"Which is?" General Cicadacon questioned.

"We destroy the Maximal satellites around Cybertron," the first figure said slowly.

"They'd probably detect our ships before the attack," General Seahclamp commented, "General Ramhorn, is there a possibility that we could sneak some operatives onto the satellites?"

"Not fast enough," General Ramhorn retorted, "Besides we can always say it was rogue and hold a fake trial. The Maximal Elders will believe anything we tell them."

"I'll go inform the agent we will send to Earth then," General Cicadacon announced, "I trust you two will deal with the satellites."

"Of course," the other two Predicon generals nodded.

**Maximal Base, Earth**

Silverbolt had just sat down on the bench in his quarters when the door suddenly opened to reveal Optimus standing in the doorway.

"Yes Optimus?" Silverbolt asked.

"May I speak with you for a moment?" Optimus questioned.

Silverbolt stood up and saluted, "Of course, sir."

Optimus then took a seat on a small bench on the opposite side of Silverbolt's quarters while the fuzor remained standing.

"Go ahead and sit down," Optimus said, "It's your quarters."

Silverbolt reluctantly sat down.

"Silverbolt, I don't know what's been going on with you, but whatever it is, it has to stop," Optimus said firmly.

"I don't know what you mean, sir?" Silverbolt asked in a confused voice.

"You've been out longer than anticipated on numerous missions, and have been seen far too close to a certain Predicon female on a few occasions," Optimus answered, "Rattrap has noted that you've been on patrols that last far too long to be patrols, and without calling in. That either indicates that there's something you don't wish to share or you're getting into more trouble than you'd like us to know."

"I have done nothing wrong, sir," Silverbolt answered.

"Have you been meeting with Blackarachnia in secret?" Optimus demanded quietly, "If you haven't, I apologize, and I'll deal with Rattrap."

"I have, sir, but I can explain…" Silverbolt sighed.

"Blackarachnia is a Predicon, Silverbolt," Optimus answered, "You can not associate yourself with her."

"But I can turn her around, sir," Silverbolt said quickly, "She was a Maximal once."

"Only a protoform," Optimus answered, "Once she was programmed as Predicon, it didn't matter what she was. You can't see her in any private manner until she can be reprogrammed. Whether it's by force or if she agrees to it willingly is her choice."

"But I…" Silverbolt began.

"You don't have personal feelings for her do you?" Optimus asked in a surprised voice.

"I can changer her," Silverbolt said weakly, admitting his own guilt.

"Silverbolt, you're one of the noblest warriors I've ever know," Optimus said, trying to sound understanding, "It's a great strength, but it can also be a great weakness. Blackarachnia is using you. Believe me. It's in any Predicon's nature to do that."

"I don't see you reprimanding Rapther for wanting to be with Dinobot," Silverbolt answered defensively.

"Rapther and Dinobot are Maximals," Optimus answered.

"According to Dinobot and Rattrap, Dinobot's still a Predicon," Silverbolt answered.

Optimus nearly growled at that, "Dinobot's personality is not Predicon. He believes in a strong code of honor that isn't present in any other Predicon. You should know that. On top of that, Dinobot has proven his loyalty to us. Blackarachnia is even mistrusted by Megatron."

"All the more reason to try and help her," Silverbolt insisted.

"Silverbolt, with Cybertron so close to finding us, going on like this with Blackarachnia can not be afforded," Optimus said sternly, "If you are discovered with her, they will arrest you for fraternization, and considering your testimony, there isn't much I can do save you from a prison cell, not without sacrificing Dinobot, and I can't let either of you be arrested."

"What are you saying?" Silverbolt growled, becoming angry.

"Dinobot knows already that his fate is not going to be very certain when Cybertron arrives," Optimus said, "I'm already looking at an uphill battle to prove that his service to us here in the Beast Wars is far more important than his helping Megatron steal the Golden Disks. I can't save Dinobot from Megatron's crimes and save you at the same time."

"So I'm to sacrifice Blackarachnia for Dinobot?" Silverbolt questioned, "Forgive me sir, but I can't do that. And despite his honor, despite his loyal service to you, mostly, I can not believe that Dinobot has the right to avoid punishment for what he did with Megatron. If you ask me, he must spend some time in prison. He committed a crime. The right thing to do is to either turn yourself in, or accept punishment when you're caught."

"Regardless of what you think, this isn't about Dinobot," Optimus answered, "This is about you and fraternization with the enemy."

"But sir, I can…" Silverbolt began to protest when a massive explosion rocked the base.

"What's going on?" Optimus yelled into the radio.

"We're under attack!" Rhinox answered, "Rampage just fired a mega missile and cut Sentinel down to 57 percent."

"Prime," Optimus growled, "This will have to wait. Right now we have bigger concerns."

Silverbolt nodded, but was slow to follow Optimus out.

**Cybertron Orbit**

Three ships, identical in design to Megatron's Darkside, slowly made their way in a low orbit around the planet Cybertron. The markings on the ships clearly indicated they were Predicon vessels, and they were moving dangerously close to the Maximal satellites in orbit around the planet.

"Stellar command to unknown Predicon vessels," came a voice over each ship's radio, "You are within restricted range of Maximal scan satellites. Change course and speed now to avoid collision."

"Foolish Maximals," one of the ship's captains thought, "They think we're simply 'cruising' and have no idea that this is an attack run."

Each ship continued on its course until the voice of General Ramhorn came over the radio on every frequency, "This is General Ramhorn of the Tripredicus Council, three Predicon ships have gone rogue from the Predicon Alliance and are believed to be in the Cybertron area. Repeat three ROGUE Predicon ships in Cybertron sector, all…"

The ship captains then cut off the radio signal, completing the hoax. General Ramhorn's radio message was the attack signal, and each Predicon ship increased speed and began firing on the unarmed and unmanned satellites. Every satellite was destroyed, and by the time that a Maximal 'police' ship could get airborne, the three Predicon vessels had made their planned transwarp jumps to an unknown destination. In the midst of the commotion however, the pursuing Maximals ships mist a single stealth ship lift off from another section of Cybertron's surface. The ship successfully made its transwarp jump without detection.

**Maximal Base, Earth**

The full fledged assault on the Maximal base continued. As the Maximals inside attempted to bring their autoguns on line, Inferno and Waspinator dropped out of the sky and blasted the guns away, leaving only the Sentinel Shield to protect the Axalon.

"GRRR!" Dinobot growled, "We're sitting ducks here. They want battle, we should give them battle!"

Rapther nodded in agreement from her position, "We've lost our autoguns and Sentinel is down to twenty seven percent. If the Predicons keep this up, the base will be destroyed, with us in it."

"And if we go outside, we're all gonna die anyway," Rattrap reported, "I say we pull of here quickly."

"Our rescue ship will be here soon," Optimus insisted, "We can not abandon the base now. If we do, they will think we had died and will leave."

"We WILL die if we stay in here," Dinobot countered.

Almost at the same time another massive explosion rocked the Axalon and the base's computer voice announced, "Sentinel Shield disabled."

Soon after, one of Tarantulus and Quickstrike's shots went straight through the base's armor around the bridge and exploded around the ceiling lights.

"Come on Big bot," Cheetor said nervously, "We gotta do something."

Outside Megatron and his Predicon followers smiled as the shield went down.

"Come," Megatron said confidently, "They can't hide in there anymore."

In orbit around Prehistoric Earth, the Predicon stealth ship dropped out of its transwarp jump and began to descend into Earth's atmosphere to where the transwarp explosion began. A pair of red optics monitored the situation below the ship. Megatron and his followers were attacking what could only be the wreck of the Maximal ship, Axalon. The transformer was totally shocked to see that Megatron and his followers all seemed to have animal components to their superstructure, which suggested that their alternate modes resembled the planet's animals, as opposed to technological forms, such as vehicles or equipment that most transformers used.

Waspinator charged ahead of Inferno to try and destroy the Maximal base's bridge first. The Predicon wasp was hoping that he'd finally have some form of success in battle and would receive some form of reward, as opposed to one of the others. His idea was quickly dashed when an unknown laser shot came out of the sky and blew Waspinator into several pieces.

"HA!" Inferno gloated, "You can't even stay in one piece when victory is ours."

The insane ant didn't last much longer as another shot came out of nowhere, and Inferno found himself in almost as many pieces as Waspinator. Shots then came down on the other Predicons. Megatron, Rampage, and Tarantulus suffered little real damage, being transmetals, while Quickstrike and Blackarachnia took cover behind boulders.

"Your attack was timed a little late," Rampage snickered, "Primal's friends are here! Good bye Megatron!"

Megatron glanced across the skies from where the shots were coming from. The shots were coming from close by, but there was no ship there, at least not that he could see or scan anyway.

"A stealth ship?" Megatron mused to himself, "The Maximals would never use such technology…"

Megatron then turned to his besieged followers, "Tarantulus, recover Waspinator and Inferno, and get back to base. I believe it's time to up the ante in this game. Yes."

"What do you suppose that was all about?" Optimus asked curiously.

"It's Cybertron!" Rattrap announced, "They've found us! They're here!"

"Where is the ship then?" Silverbolt asked curiously, "If it is a ship that fired those laser shots."

Almost as soon as Silverbolt finished, a strange ship decloaked in an open field near the base.

"A stealth ship?" Dinobot growled, "I would advise caution, Optimus Primal. Maximals do not use stealth technology."

"And how would you know that, Chopperface?" Rattrap asked, "You also thought we had TORTURE chambers."

Dinobot half snickered at the memory and then answered, "A warrior always analyzes his opponent's strengths and weaknesses. From a military stand point, the Maximal's lack of stealth technology puts them at a weakness to those that do. Although, I've always found it to be a coward's answer to use such technology."

"You're more like us than you know," Rapther said quietly.

"Either way, it's Cybertron," Optimus answered, "We must investigate."

The Maximals slowly approached the stealth ship from their base and two red optics watched from inside the ship. One large brown looking robot and a yellow spotted robot looked overly hopeful. A chrome robot, a silver winged robot, and a brown and green robot looked more curious than anything else, while a forest green female robot and brown male robot standing near the back of the group looked ready to start a fight. The figure decided to make its entrance.

Dinobot's optics narrowed as the ship's ramp lowered. He already had his suspicions about this ship, because of its entrance, but part of him was also prepared to be arrested or shot at. Rapther stood nearby, as if ready to defend him. However, no one was prepared for what came down the ramp.

The bot was identical in structure and form to Cheetor's transmetal body, but it was a solid black, as apposed to Cheetor's more metallic colors. What set everyone off however was not the fact that he looked so much like Cheetor, but the fact that he carried neither the symbol of the Maximals nor the Predicons, but the ancient Deceptacons.

"I am Ravage," the robot announced, "Agent of the Predicon Alliance."

Optimus moved to shake the transformer's hand politely, when Rattrap stopped him, with Dinobot coming close behind.

"You can't trust this guy, Optimus," Rattrap said bluntly, "Only thing worse than a slaggin' Pred is a slaggin' Deceptacon!"

"He is right," Dinobot said slowly, "Does it not seem odd to you why it is a PREDICON ship piloted by someone who is DECEPTACON and not one of your own faction?"

Optimus paused slightly, but moved his arm to push the two back, "I'm sorry, we have been fighting Megatron for a long time here. But, they do have a point. We were expecting a Maximal ship."

The Deceptacon, Ravage, quickly noted the two that the transformer who was obviously Primal dismissed. The brown and blue robot looked perfectly enraged, and his voice matched the voice of one of the Predicons that helped Megatron steal the Golden Disks. The other was quickly ignored.

"I'm afraid the Maximals will not be able to find you," Ravage answered, "The Predicon Alliance has classified Megatron's actions as rogue, and agrees with the Maximal Elders that his stealing of the Golden Disk was a crime. We however wish to deal with Megatron ourselves. I am more than willing to bring you all back to Cybertron once Megatron has been dealt with."

"What do you mean, 'the Maximals will not be able to find you'?" Rhinox asked, "Cybertron has several scan satellites orbiting the planet. They should have detected the transwarp explosion just as you did."

Ravage looked down for a moment, "I'm afraid that Megatron's actions have gone beyond Earth. Recently three Predicon ships and their crews attacked and destroyed those satellites you refer to. I was busy hunting Megatron when I received a warning from the Predicon Alliance of the rogue attack, and advised that I might need to deal with them first. However, I detected the transwarp signature of the Darkside before I found them, so I am here."

"How do we know you didn't destroy the satellites yourself?" Rattrap asked suspiciously, "With that stealth ship you could attack dem satellites without detection."

"I can assure you that I did not," Ravage replied, "Now, Optimus Primal, I am here to hunt Megatron. If you have been fighting him here, then we are on the same side. I offer an alliance."

"Only to defeat Megatron and to return my crew to Cybertron," Optimus answered.

"Of course," Ravage smiled, shaking the Maximal leader's hand.

**Predicon Base**

Waspinator and Inferno was just placed in the Darkside's CR tanks while Megatron thought about the situation from his throne. Both Blackarachnia and Tarantulus had disappeared somewhere, but the arrival from Cybertron was far more important.

"Shouldn't be too long!" Rampage laughed from a corner of the room.

"If only I still had the Golden Disks," Megatron silently fumed and then snapped his fingers, and said in a triumphant voice, "That's it! The real disks may be in the Maximal's possession, but the energy signature and the design should be extremely easy to copy. A perfect bargaining chip, yes."

"What do ya want, boss?" Quickstrike asked as he walked up to Megatron.

"Activate all the autoguns," Megatron commanded, "That was a Predicon stealth ship that attacked us at the Maximal base. We can not target the ship itself, but we can target where the laser fire that it shoots at us comes from, and once we hit it, we can target the explosions."

"Yes, boss," Quickstrike saluted and moved to his post.

Megatron then produced the energon cage that held a piece of Rampage's spark and said coldly, "Come along, Rampage. I have work for you."

Rampage began to protest, but when he saw the energon cage he relented and followed the Predicon tyrant.

**Ravage's Ship**

Ravage piloted his stealth ship as quickly as he could toward the location of the Predicon Base with the guidance of the Maximals. Ravage quietly looked back at his allies. Optimus stood closest to him with Rhinox, Cheetor, and Silverbolt behind their leader. Dinobot, Rapther, and Rattrap chose to remain at the Maximal base, just in case Megatron might avoid Ravage's strike, and take the unguarded Maximal base.

Optimus was slightly disappointed that Dinobot, Rapther, and Rattrap refused to join them. Dinobot of all of them would want to see the downfall of Megatron, the Predicon who cost him his honor, who talking him into joining the party that stole the Golden Disks in first place. But then Dinobot was a warrior and Megatron was crafty. He could be right that the Predicon tyrant would simply lead a new attack on the disabled base while he and Maximals were helping Ravage.

"We are now approaching the location of the Darkside," Optimus said pointing through the glass window to the silhouette of the crashed Predicon ship.

Ravage nodded and settled his ship over the Darkside.

"Can they fire on us?" Cheetor asked nervously.

"Not while we're in stealth mode," Ravage answered.

Ravage then focused his ship's weapons on the Darkside.

"Megatron will surely suspect my involvement, and will try to target the locations where my weapon's fire comes from," Ravage thought, "That way he can sidestep my stealth technology. However, if I destroy his ability to target anything, than I've already won."

Below them in the Darkside, Megatron had luckily just finished his work on a piece of metal, welded around some improvised computer software. Normally he would assign Tarantulus this job, but even if he did know where the spider was, he didn't trust him enough with such a task.

"There," Megatron smiled and placed the metal object inside his chest compartment.

As soon as his chest compartment closed, a massive explosion rocked the ship.

"Megatron to Quickstrike," Megatron spoke into his communicator, "Come in Quickstrike."

"You ain't gonna like this, boss," Quickstrike weakly answered over the radio.

"What has happened?" Megatron demanded.

"Laser shot went straight through the ship and took out are targeting computer," Quickstrike answered, "Took me out too."

"And so falls the 'mighty' Megatron!" Rampage laughed.

Megatron ignored the crab's comments. This only proved to him his suspicions, that it was a Predicon that was here, not the Maximals. He slowly made his way out onto the bridge of the Darkside with Rampage following behind him. Once he got to the bridge he found Quickstrike lying near the targeting computers, offline. Megatron scowled for a moment but turned suddenly when he heard an explosion. The Predicon tyrant gasped in fear for the first time in his life. Rampage lay offline at the feet of Optimus Primal, Rhinox, Cheetor, Silverbolt, and a Decepticon that looked identical to Cheetor, except it was all black.

The Decepticon put its hands together and fired a laser shot, similar to Cheetor's and knocked Megatron out easily.

"In the name of the Predicon alliance," Ravage announced, "I place you under arrest."

**To Be Continued…**


	2. Chapter 2

Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place shortly after "The Battle in the Valley".

Beyond Earth, Chapter 2

By TVfan

**Prehistoric Earth**

Ravage saw that Megatron, Rampage, and Quickstrike were carefully secured before placing them in various prison holds on his ship. There were however some absent Predicons however. One was Tarantulus, with whom Ravage was already familiar with. The others were two male transformers, Inferno and Waspinator, and one female transformer, Blackarachnia. Much to Ravage's pleasure, Optimus had offered help apprehend the rogues.

The black armored Decepticon approached his ship's bridge and pressed its long range communications button.

"This is Ravage to the Tripredicus Council," Ravage spoke clearly.

"This is General Ramhorn," came a voice from the radio, "Go ahead, Ravage."

"Mission is nearly completed," Ravage answered, "We are ahead of schedule even. Optimus Primal and his followers believe I will escort them home."

Ramhorn laughed over the radio with great pleasure before answering, "Continue as planned. Remember that no transformer on Earth is to survive, save for of course you and our spy."

"Yes, General," Ravage answered to the radio.

**Maximal Base, Optimus's Quarters**

Silverbolt quietly stepped into Optimus's quarters as the transmetal gorilla sat behind a desk.

"You wished to see me, sir?" Silverbolt asked, knowing full well what was coming.

"I did," Optimus answered sternly, "We need to finish what we were discussing earlier."

"As I said, I believe I can change her, sir," Silverbolt pleaded, "Let me try. If Dinobot can leave the Predicons and become a Maximal, so can Blackarachnia."

"I can agree with you, there," Optimus sighed, "It is possible, but you must remember that Dinobot chose to leave the Predicons. Blackarachnia has shown not intention of doing so. We've nearly finished the Beast Wars with the capture of Megatron, Rampage, and Quickstrike. We need to capture the rest of the Predicons as quickly as possible before Ravage decides to leave us here."

Silverbolt nodded, not sure what Optimus was getting at.

Optimus then spoke clearly, "Normally I would trust you with bring at least one of them in, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to stand against that. Blackarachnia represents a potential weakness and I believe she will use you."

"Sir, I believe I would be better suited to bringing her in," Silverbolt protested, "She will listen to me."

"You are confined to quarters," Optimus said in a commanding voice, "I can allow your feelings for her to get in the way of our going home. Cheetor will bring her in."

"Sir, I must protest," Silverbolt said, "She will listen to me, I know it. Please let me bring her in. She won't listen to Cheetor and will have no problem with fighting him."

"Should I send Dinobot instead?" Optimus asked, "He has no qualms with KILLING Blackarachnia. You are confined to quarters. To protect both the mission and yourself. You have to realize that she is using you, Silverbolt. There are many Predicons that have formed unions with Maximals, but those unions have occurred in a time of peace. As Dinobot commonly points out, here, we are at war."

"But…" Silverbolt began to protest.

"You are confined to quarters," Optimus commanded, and then activated his communicator, "Cheetor, could you come to my quarters for a moment. I have job for you to do."

**Deep Space**

The three 'rogue' Predicon ships dropped out of their transwarp jumps several light years from Cybertron, but at roughly the same time that they had left.

"Patch us through to the Tripredicus Council," the captain of the lead vessel said, "We will need orders."

"Yes sir," the lower ranking Predicon answered.

"This General Seaclamp," came a voice over the radio.

"This is Devastator," the Predicon captain said, "Our mission to provide Agent Ravage with a diversion was successful. We are prepared and waiting for orders."

"The Maximal Elders believe your ships are rogue, and will probably try to hunt you in whatever feeble way the Maximals hunt anything," Seaclamp responded over the radio, "Begin guerilla operations in the Grimlock sector of this galaxy. It is unexplored by the Maximals, but is right next to their major trade route with the Maximal bases on Earth's moon. We will send occasional ships out under the guise of hunting you, but they will provide you with aide. You will continue your guerilla operations until Ravage has returned and the heat involving Megatron's crimes die down."

"Yes, General," Devastator answered.

The radio then went blank for a moment and Devastator then turned to his crew and commanded, "Set course for Grimlock Sector."

**Prehistoric Earth**

Dinobot carefully sniffed the rocks around the crashed Darkside. Optimus had given him, Rapther, and Rattrap the job of hunting down Inferno, Waspinator, and Tarantulus, while Cheetor hunted Blackarachnia. The male raptor growled when no scent produced itself.

"Anything wrong, Dinobot?" Rapther asked.

"About the situation or this hunt?" Dinobot growled in a frustrated voice.

"Either one would work," Rapther replied.

"This is below us," Dinobot growled, "Even below Rattrap, and that's saying something. Waspinator seems to get himself blown up by anything that moves, and Inferno lacks any real intelligence. The ant is brave and powerful, but he is also insane and cruel. The only one worth hunting is Tarantulus."

"And that spider has flown the coup if ya know what I'm sayin'," Rattrap interrupted as he leaned against a rock, "This rock used to be a door to one of his little caves, but look now…"

Rattrap pushed the rock aside and the hole that was once below it was filled in.

"No sign now if there ever WAS a secret lab here," Rattrap commented, "That spider simply ain't here."

Rapther glanced at the towering image of Megatron's crashed ship.

"What about the ship?" Rapther asked, "Suppose some of they could be in the ship?"

"The Boss-Monkey couldn't find any others in there," Rattrap snorted, "There's no one here."

Meanwhile on a rocky cliff above them, the newly repaired Waspinator and Inferno watched the three Maximals argue the importance of their mission.

"Ohhhh, Waspinator hates Male Lizard Bot," the wasp buzzed, "We should slag Lizard Bot."

Inferno looked at them and then said, "I agree, but the Royalty commanded we take these Stasis Pods to a safe location, away from the Colony. That command is more important."

Inferno then activated his jets and lifted one of the stasis pods and headed toward a rather dark looking mountain several miles away. Waspinator simply sighed and followed suit.

"I agree wi' ya, Chopperface," Rattrap said, "Dat Ravage guy is bad news."

"But Optimus believes he will take us 'home' so he trusts him," Dinobot growled, and then said in a weakened tone, "Optimus is a fine commander. The only Maximal who could beat me in a fair fight, but his want to return home is clouding his judgment. There are very few Predicons out there that view themselves as Decepticons, but they are more dangerous then Megatron."

"Should we watch him then?" Rapther asked.

"No," Dinobot answered, "Optimus commanded we hunt for the Predicons, and that is what we must do, even if Ravage is the greater evil. Perhaps something to our advantage will come of it."

Dinobot then began to move toward the area on the east side of the Darkside to continue searching.

**Maximal Base**

Silverbolt settled himself onto his bunk, sulking when the door opened to reveal Cheetor standing there.

"What do you want?" Silverbolt asked in a defeated voice.

"What's up with you?" Cheetor asked, ignoring why he was here.

"I can convince Blackarachnia to join us, willingly," Silverbolt said, "I know I can. But instead, Optimus has me here."

"Optimus just wants to make sure you don't get hurt," Cheetor said, "Blackarachnia has pulled some doozies on us before and he's afraid she'll hurt you and cost us a chance to go home."

Silverbolt didn't answer.

"You do want to go back to Cybertron, don't you?" Cheetor asked.

"I've never been to Cybertron," Silverbolt answered, "And this isn't the point. I could convince Blackarachnia to come to us. She won't hurt me, but she might hurt you, and I don't want you to hurt her."

"If it makes you feel better," Cheetor began, "I'll try to bring her back in one piece, and I'm sorry about all this."

"I'm sorry too," Silverbolt responded glumly.

"For what?" Cheetor asked.

Silverbolt stood up and punched Cheetor in the face, knocking the transmetal cheetah to the ground.

"Cheetor, are you all right?" Silverbolt asked.

Cheetor sat up with a confused look on his face, "Yeah, I think so. Why…"

"Then I'm sorry again," Silverbolt interrupted and punched Cheetor again, knocking the cat out.

Silverbolt then shifted to his beast mode and quietly made his way out of the Maximal base.

**Ravage's ship**

Megatron slowly aroused himself from the floor to find himself in a secured cage, and his tail cannon lying outside the cell. Standing outside the cell was an all black version of the transmetal Cheetor.

"Ah, you are awake, Megatron," Ravage chuckled.

"What nerve do you have to imprison me!?" Megatron raged.

"I am on orders from the Tripredicus Council," Ravage answered, "My orders were to terminate you and your followers, but I would prefer to wait till all your followers are together."

"Idiotic fools," Megatron growled.

"True," Ravage agreed, "But the ancient Decepticons chose the Tripredicus Council to rule, not you."

"And yet they've lead us into Maximal slavery," Megatron answered in a melodramatic voice, "I've tried to restore our prominence and this is how you repay me?"

"You disobeyed the Council's commands and rules," Ravage answered.

Megatron noted that the transformer bore the Decepticon symbol and not Predicon, and then the tyrant smiled, "I am surprised that you would follow them yourself. Being a Decepticon and all. The Council is not descended from the Decepticons. They are impure."

"But they command the legal right," Ravage answered.

"Only by trickery and deceit," Megatron answered.

"I will not release you," Ravage said coldly.

"Perhaps we can make a deal?" Megatron offered, "I have a secret stash of energon in a cave. It's yours if you free me and my followers."

Ravage then smiled, "You mean this energon?"

Ravage then stepped aside to reveal a screen with Tarantulus standing around his energon cache.

"Agent Tarantulus of the Predicon Security Force," the transmetal spider cackled, "Goodbye Megatron."

"That traitor!" Megatron roared, "I'll tear him limb from limb from limb from limb from limb from limb from limb from limb."

"You'll do nothing of the sort," Ravage answered, "Tarantulus will arrive shortly to deliver the Council's energon and then you will reveal the location of your missing servants."

"And you!" Megatron then responded in a slightly confident tone, "You're the greatest traitor of them all. You are a Decepticon, yet you defy the will of Megatron."

"You have the Great One's name," Ravage said coldly, "But you AREN'T Megatron."

"I wasn't referring to myself," Megatron smiled, opening his chest compartment.

**Cybertron, Maximal Elder's Chambers**

Four transformers sat around a large circular table with a map of the known universe holographically projected on the table's surface.

"The Predicons are losing control of their own faction!" one exclaimed in a frustrated tone, "First Megatron, now this."

"Yes," the first answered, "I've spoken with the Tripredicus Council. They are busy reworking their entire faction to weed out possible traitors. There is little they can do to get rid of the rogues."

The third looked down with defeated look, "That means we have to do it, and that we'll have to abandon the search for Optimus Primal until they're stopped."

"We can't forget Primal!" the fourth and second insisted.

"We won't," the first said firmly, "But he is right. Our fleet is too spread out through space and time looking for Primal. It is the perfect opportunity for the rogues to take advantage of our distraction and the Predicon's inability to look after themselves."

"May Primus help the universe," the second sighed.

**Prehistoric Earth**

Silverbolt found Blackarachnia shuffling about with something a few miles from the Predicon base.

"What are you doing?" Silverbolt asked as he landed.

Blackarachnia spun around suddenly and looked at the fuzor before demanding, "What are you doing here, dog-boy?"

"I'm here to talk," Silverbolt said calmly.

"You can talk while I work," Blackarachnia muttered as she returned to what she was working on, "But you can't watch."

Silverbolt politely turned his back as he listened to Blackarachnia pushing buttons on a device she had buried there.

"I'm listening," Blackarachnia spoke in an impatient voice.

"Blackarachnia, the Beast Wars are over," Silverbolt announced, "We've captured Megatron. You can join us."

"And be a Maximal?" Blackarachnia asked, "Be a goody-goody? No, thank-you. I'm happy just the way I am."

"But you were a Maximal protoform," Silverbolt protested, "They're your true comrades."

"Be careful with your words, dog-boy," Blackarachnia snickered, "If you use that argument, Dinobot should join the Predicons."

"That's not what I mean," Silverbolt protested, "You don't need to do all this. You can be free."

"Maybe according to you," Blackarachnia answered, "But as I said, I like who I am. I'm not going to give that up to be one of Optimus's goody-goodies."

"Is there anything I can do to persuade you to change your mind?" Silverbolt asked.

"No," Blackarachnia smiled, "But you're welcome to try."

Blackarachnia began walking off toward some distant mountains as Silverbolt looked after her. Deciding he had to make an effort to get her to change her mind, Silverbolt slowly followed.

**Ravage's ship**

"That's…?" Ravage stammered looking at what Megatron had pulled from his chest compartment.

"The Golden Disks," Megatron confirmed, smiling as it appeared that his copies would do the trick, "On them are exquisite instructions to come to this planet from the original Megatron. I'll let you play them if you release me."

Ravage instantly turned and released Megatron from his cell. The transmetal tyrannosaur stood in robot mode and calmly handed Ravage the disks. The black transmetal jaguar took the disks and placed them immediately in a nearby player. His optics widened as the disks displayed an all too familiar image.

"Megatron?" Ravage reached with one hand through the image.

Ravage then turned face the current Megatron, "You are following his orders."

"As I always have been," Megatron smiled as he took his tail gun in hand, "It is the Tripredicus Council that are the traitors to the original Megatron's vision. They are after all, descendents of Unicron."

Ravage paused before answering and then said clearly, "Since you appear to follow the original Megatron, I will follow you, because the ORIGINAL Megatron is our true leader, no matter who is actually in command."

"But of course," Megatron nodded, "Right now, however, we must deal with the Maximals. They are likely to be thinking that the war is over."

Ravage nodded and moved toward his ship's cockpit. Megatron meanwhile set to freeing his imprisoned comrades.

"Ya actually trust that tin horn?" Quickstrike demanded in his western twang-like accent.

"I trust him to follow our plans so long as they resemble what the original Megatron would do," Megatron answered, "But I do believe I will have to do something about him, yes."

"I can't believe those disks still got you out of there," Rampage scoffed.

"True they are only fake copies of the original disks," Megatron smiled as he put the two fake disks back in his chest compartment, "But they were enough to sway him."

Megatron was about to issue his next set of orders when the ship's ramp lowered to reveal Tarantulus pushing a large wheeled cart full of energon into the ship.

"I'm home!" Tarantulus cackled with a laugh that was cut short when he suddenly saw Megatron free of his cell at the top of the ramp with his tail gun charged.

"So you are," Megatron agreed and fired his tail gun at the energon.

The transmetal spider had no time to react as Megatron's blast hit the energon and the resulting explosion tore Tarantulus to pieces. Megatron calmly walked down the ramp and lifted up the spider's head.

"And I know I'm going to have to do something with you," Megatron smiled, "YESSSSS!"

**Elsewhere**

"I still can't believe he punched you," Optimus grumbled as he and Cheetor flew in vehicle mode over the ground below them.

"I'm just glad it wasn't Dinobot's girlfriend you were asking me to go apprehend," Cheetor chuckled, "I wouldn't get out of the CR chamber for years."

Optimus didn't answer.

"I would also say Optimus, that maybe you should have let Silverbolt bring Blackarachnia in," Cheetor said weakly, "He's never betrayed us for anything and from what I've heard, he's been trying to get her to join us."

"Given her history, I wouldn't trust her," Optimus said seriously, "Deception is her game."

"I'm more inclined not to trust that Ravage guy," Cheetor said, "He gives me the creeps and he looks just like me, except he's all black."

"Something about him doesn't seem to be right to me either," Optimus agreed, "But we need him to get home, and he hasn't done anything vile, yet."

Dinobot and his group were moving into rather forested region as he Rapther followed a weak scent of Waspinator and Inferno that they had finally picked up. The two raptors and single rat came into a small clearing when they noticed Optimus and Cheetor flying in the distance.

"I wonder what they're up to," Rattrap asked out loud.

"Probably searching on their own," Rapther answered.

Dinobot's optics suddenly focused on movement going on behind them. A large black stealth ship had lifted out of the trees behind them. Rapther and Rattrap noticed it at the same time.

Dinobot suddenly roared as the he saw the ship's weapons begin to power up, "We are betrayed!"

"Yo Optimus!" came Rattrap's voice over the radio.

"Rattrap?" Optimus answered, "What's you're report? Have you found Waspinator or Inferno yet?"

"No, but I do have some good news and some bad news," Rattrap answered.

"Go ahead," Optimus answered.

"The good news is we don't have to worry about trusting that Ravage guy," Rattrap said.

"And the bad news?" Optimus sighed.

"He's switched sides!" Rattrap exclaimed, "Look behind you!"

Optimus turned and his optic's widened when he saw Megatron standing on Ravage's ship and the fact the ship's weapons were charging.

On Ravage's ship, Ravage smiled as he targeted the transmetal gorilla. Then as Megatron began the new battle with his tail gun, Ravage yelled through his radio so that the Maximals would hear him, "Decepticons forever!"

**To Be Continued…**


	3. Chapter 3

Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place shortly after "The Battle in the Valley".

Beyond Earth, Chapter 3

By TVfan

**Prehistoric Earth**

Optimus dove down toward the trees below them with Cheetor close behind. Intense laser fire followed from behind them as Megatron fired his tail gun and Ravage fired his ship's main weapons.

"How'd Megabutt talk himself out of that cell?" Cheetor muttered as he avoided a very near miss.

"It's like Rattrap said," Opitmus growled to himself, "You can't trust a 'slagging Decepticon'."

"It isn't your fault," Cheetor replied.

"We're going to pay for it though," Optimus answered as he turned to fire on the ship.

Meanwhile on the ship's bridge, Ravage continued to fire on the two Maximals, even as they descended below the tree line.

"If they think they can escape that way, they are dead wrong," Ravage muttered as the Decepticon changed his ship's weapon settings to begin carpet bombing the forest.

"You won't hit them that way," Rampage pointed out from behind him.

Ravage turned in his chair and backhanded the crab.

"Do not question what I do," Ravage commanded, "Besides, we can drive them into open terrain this way. Which is in about one thousand meters."

"Man dat two timin'…" Rattrap began as he, Dinobot, and Rapther ran to stop Ravage's ship.

"Save your breath for Ravage," Dinobot growled, "We must find his ship first."

"Why didn't they attack with the cloaking field up?" Rapther questioned.

"To make a statement," Dinobot snarled, "Let us know that 'helping us' was never part of Ravage's plan."

**Maximal Base**

Rhinox sat at the monitors waiting patiently for any word from the patrol teams. Suddenly the radio came to live as Optimus's frenzied voice was heard over it.

"Optimus Primal to Maximal Command Base, come in," Optimus yelled.

"This is Rhinox," the green and brown transformer answered, "What's your status."

"Bad to worse," Optimus replied, "Dinobot and Rattrap were right about Ravage. Him and Megatron are chasing Cheetor and I south by southwest through Gamma Sector."

Rhinox shuffled to a nearby computer screen that showed the location of any nearby Maximal units on its screen.

"Dinobot, Rapther, and Rattrap are headed your way," Rhinox warned, "Be careful who you shoot at, and be sure to warn them."

"Actually they warned us," Optimus interrupted.

"Ah-ha," Rhinox sighed, "Silverbolt is also about two thousand meters away from you in the direction that you're moving."

"And that will mean Blackarachnia as well," Optimus sighed, "We may need her help anyway. Hopefully Silverbolt's ideas about changing her were successful."

Rhinox quietly nodded, "I'm placing base defenses on auto, and I'll be there as fast as I can. Rhinox out."

Rhinox then hurried from the command room, and after stuffing his Gatling guns into his internal weapons compartment, changed to his beast mode and lumbered out of the base.

**Elsewhere**

"Why are we here?" Silverbolt asked.

"I downloaded the information from the Golden Disks into my own hard drive," Blackarachnia answered, "Well, Megatron's copies anyway. According to their records there is something buried here of great importance."

"Something to help you or the Predicons?" Silverbolt asked.

"Why to help me," Blackarachnia smiled, "I intend to use this to rule the Predicons."

"But why?" Silverbolt asked, "You were a Maximal once. Why involve yourself with Megatron and the Predicons? Why do you even continue to fight us when the war is over?"

"Because, you sap, as I said before," Blackarachnia said harshly, "I like who I am. I won't change that. And you know full well that your bossy monkey won't have me back unless I have my mind erased of who I am."

"No Maximal would do something like that," Silverbolt protested.

"Maximals created Rampage," Blackarachnia pointed out, "Just as Dinobot can be an 'honorable Predicon' there are Maximals who are devilishly evil."

"Optimus isn't like that," Silverbolt said.

Blackarachnia turned and kicked Silverbolt to the ground. The fuzor only looked up at her as she stood over him.

"Listen dog-boy, I don't know why I haven't slagged you yet," Blackarachnia said sternly, "But I haven't. If you want me TO kill you, keep trying to persuade me to join your little Maximal buddies. If not, either go away or shut up and help me."

"I'll help," Silverbolt said weakly.

**The Jungle**

Cheetor dodged another heavy laser shot fired by Ravage's ship.

"This is getting old quick," Cheetor commented angrily.

"He's driving us," Optimus commented, "Rhinox said that Dinobot and the others are coming are way, but we don't know how long it will take them to get here."

The two transmetals then suddenly flew out of the jungle and into a large open area full of huge boulders. Ravage's ship and Megatron began firing more directly on them and they had to work more to get away.

"Take cover among the rocks!" Optimus ordered, "We can at least fire back from there."

Megatron scowled as Primal and Cheetor took cover among the large boulders of the region. Ravage's ship could no longer provide massive amounts of firepower on them. The stealth technology was still an option, but Megatron had commanded the revived Decepticon to provide enough power to the weapons that any direct hit would be lethal. That took power away from the cloaking technology.

"Circle around their position," Megatron commanded into his radio to Ravage, "All other Predicons prepare for battle."

"What of the weapons power levels?" Ravage asked.

"I want them at full power," Megatron commanded, "I want Optimus Primal and the cat dead by the time this battle is over."

Meanwhile, inside the ship, Rampage and Quickstrike gathered or armed their weapons and moved out to opening cargo ramp at the back of Ravage's ship. Rampage crushed several rocks as the transmetal crab landed on the ground.

"Ya can set me down now," Quickstrike yelled at him from the side.

The crab's optics narrowed at Quickstrike before he threw the fuzor forward several feet.

"Don't tell me what to do," Rampage warned as he pulled out his rocket launcher and began firing at Optimus and Cheetor's position.

Quickstrike soon joined him in firing blasts from the blaster built into his snake head that served as one arms in robot mode. Both Predicons watched the figure of Megatron land opposite them on the other side of Optimus and Cheetor.

At Cheetor and Optimus's position they found themselves being fired on from two sides.

"Great," Cheetor muttered as he tried to fire a round at Quickstrike, "Surrounded and out gunned."

**Elsewhere**

Silverbolt and Blackarachnia had been removing rocks for several hours straight, and in relative quiet. Silverbolt was mostly trying to figure out a way to get Blackarachnia to join the Maximals. Blackarachnia was intent on finding what was on the other end of the large pile of rocks. Neither noticed the flash of smoke and fire going on to their northeast or the fact that it was starting to get dark.

"Tired already?" Blackarachnia asked, "We're nearing some sort of cavern. These rocks don't go on forever."

"I was just thinking," Silverbolt answered as he threw the rock down into the gorge bellow them.

"Quit thinking and keep working," Blackarachnia insisted.

Silverbolt only sighed and went back to work.

**The Battle Zone**

Dinobot and his group were the first to emerge from the forest toward the battle zone. The raptor snarled as he saw the situation. Optimus and Cheetor were pinned down among rocks with Ravage's ship circling overhead and firing down on them. Megatron was on one side of the two Maximals and Rampage and Quickstrike were on the other.

"Preds got 'em in a crossfire," Rattrap commented.

"It's the ship that's their real asset," Rapther pointed out, "Quickstrike is not a good fighter. Rattrap could beat him up without his gun."

Dinobot nodded, "We must deal with the ship first. Thankfully Megatron's arrogance has played into our hand. He won't let Ravage power the weapons down to use the cloaking device. Which also means the ship's shields will not withstand much of an attack."

"What's your plan, Lizard lips?" Rattrap asked.

Dinobot pointed at the engine exhaust ports at the rear of Ravage's ship.

"When Ravage makes his next pass, we fire on the engine pods," Dinobot instructed, "My optics lasers and Rattrap's blaster will take out the ship's shields, while Rapther's rockets will destroy the engines. Ravage will lose control and the ship will crash."

"It wasn't like Ravage was gonna take us home anyway," Rattrap chuckled as he pulled out his blaster, "I'm ready."

Dinobot began powering up his optics and yelled, "On three!"

Rapther readied her rocket launchers.

"One!"

Rattrap pointed his gun toward Ravage's ship.

"Two!"

Dinobot turned his head in the same direction as Rattrap's gun.

"Three!"

All three transformers fired in unison. After her first blast, Rapther added a second volley of rockets to follow the others.

Megatron paused his firing to see thin streaks of green laser energy, six rockets, and three laser blast pulses fly through the air. To the Predicon tyrant's surprise, the blasts burned through the shields of Ravages ship, and then six more rockets hit the engines. The ship immediately began smoking and losing altitude. He then turned to see Dinobot, Rapther, and Rattrap charging out of the jungle behind him.

"NO!" Megatron yelled in frustration.

Ravage meanwhile found himself in a much more dangerous situation. Panels displayed warning signs in bright red lights as one propulsion or stabilizer system failed. He tried frantically to boost power, but found he could not.

"Blast Megatron and his 'power the weapons orders'," Ravage cursed as he moved toward the rear of the ship and lifted a large metal box that contained the various pieces of Tarantulus and leaped out of the ship.

Ravage landed somewhat roughly and he could hear Tarantulus mutter something from inside the box. But Ravage felt content to even be alive as his ship flew off and crashed into a nearby rock formation, and then explode.

Megatron growled as his fortune had now gone so sour so quickly. Dinobot, Rapther, and Rattrap had him under heavy fire and he couldn't fire on Optimus or Cheetor without leaving himself open. On the other side, Optimus and Cheetor were now driving Rampage and Quickstrike back, now that Megatron and the stealth ship weren't pinning them down among the rocks.

"Retreat!" Megatron yelled transforming to his vehicle mode, "Retreat!"

Dinobot watched as Megatron took off into the darkening sky and as Quickstrike and Rampage took off. The three newly arrived Maximals joined with Optimus around the same area where Optimus and Cheetor had earlier been pinned down.

"Is that the last of them?" Cheetor asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't," Optimus sighed before turning toward Dinobot and the others, "I'm afraid I owe you an apology. I nearly got us all killed."

"You wished to return to Cybertron with your crew," Dinobot answered, "As is the goal of most starship commanders, and you are not at fault. Decepticons are called DECEPTICONS for a reason. Deception is their game."

"Not that I ain't gonna hold ya to this," Rattrap blurted.

Optimus groaned and Dinobot promptly whacked Rattrap in the head. Shortly thereafter, Rhinox came up to the group.

"Well, the gang's all here," Rhinox commented.

"All except Silverbolt," Optimus said, "We should get him."

"He's about a thousand meters in that direction," Rhinox replied pointed.

Elsewhere, Megatron and the Predicons stood in their own small circle.

"I was so close!" Megatron roared blasting a rock with his tail gun.

"And still you managed to lead us to defeat!" Rampage challenged.

Megatron in his own anger produced the energon cage and put immediate pressure on it, bringing Rampage to his knees.

"And I do not need to hear that word from you," Megatron growled.

"Then perhaps you'll hear it from me," Ravage challenged, "Your orders to devote nearly all of my ship's power to its weapons made cloaking impossible and weakened the shields to where our own personal weapons could easily break them. Three Maximals came and broke the ship's shields and then took out my ship. I don't know how much of the original Megatron's plans you're following, but he would not have left our chances of winning so dreadfully thin."

Megatron scowled at the black transmetal. Quickstrike stumbled back six steps, muttering "Uh-oh."

"We are not defeated yet," Megatron warned as he lifted Ravage into the air, "If you question my plans and my orders… plans and orders that come from the ORIGINAL Megatron… I will have you scrapped."

Megatron then looked at the recovering Rampage, "And I'm sure the crab will be more than willing to do so."

"Royalty!" came Inferno's voice from behind and above them.

Megatron's head turned to see the ant and Waspinator come in for a landing.

"I trust you have completed your mission?" Megatron asked.

"Yes, my Queen," Inferno answered, "Both stasis pods have been moved to your secret facility."

"Good," Megatron smiled.

"Also, scanners on Darkside find female spider-bot," Waspinator said in his buzzing voice, "She with unknown Maximal in that direction."

Megatron followed the direction in which Waspinator was pointing and something he remembered from his own training days came back to him. The Predicon leader smiled and dropped Ravage.

"Inferno, you will take this box back to base," Megatron commanded, "Do not open it. There is someone I wish to deal with personally in it."

"At once, my Queen," Inferno bowed and lifted the box before taking off into the sky.

"Having gender problems, Megatron?" Ravage asked.

"The ant is insane," Megatron answered, then turning to Waspinator and producing a small device from inside a compartment in one of his shoulders, "Waspinator, you will take this device to where Blackarachnia is located. Do not press the blue button until I tell you to do so. Report in when you get there."

"Yes, Megatron," Waspinator answered and flew off.

"And what are we gonna do, bossbot?" Quickstrike asked.

"We will follow Waspinator and deal with any of the Maximals who get in our way," Megatron smiled evilly.

Optimus and his group were slowly walking toward the location that Rhinox told them that Silverbolt was at, when suddenly Waspinator streaked across the night sky, miles ahead of them.

"What's he up to?" Cheetor asked, "Haven't they caused us enough trouble?"

"Whatever it is, it can't be good," Rattrap commented.

"And he's headed straight for where Silverbolt is," Optimus said, shifting to his vehicle mode, "Cheetor, come with me. We got to get there as quickly as possible. The rest of you, follow behind me."

**Elsewhere**

Blackarachnia and Silverbolt had finished moving the rocks to uncover a large cavern. Blackarachnia marveled at the cave itself while Silverbolt gazed out at the night sky.

"What are you looking at?" Blackarachnia asked.

"That star, well… planet really," Silverbolt replied, "It's Venus. It reminds me of you."

Blackarachnia looked at the far off planet and laughed, "Hot, poisonous, and deadly? You're sweet."

"That's not what I meant," Silverbolt began to protest.

"You're still sweet," Blackarachnia smiled, "Come on. We got a little cave exploring to do."

"What do you think is in there?" Silverbolt asked.

"I don't think," Blackarachnia corrected, "I know. And it's for you to find out."

The two transformers walked down the long passageway that the cave formed. As they finally came up to the end of the cavern they found another large pile of rock rubble blocking their path. These rocks were much looser and Blackarachnia could make out light coming through from the other side.

"We're at the end!" Blackarachnia exclaimed, "Now all we need to do…"

Silverbolt pulled her aside.

"I can handle this," Silverbolt interrupted aiming his wings at the rocks and then firing his feather grenades.

The rocks exploded into tiny fragments and dust full from the cave roof as Silverbolt's grenades destroyed the rock wall.

Blackarachnia stepped forward to get out of the dust and coughing asked, "What is it with males and high explosives?"

"A way to show off?" Silverbolt laughed weakly, and was about to continue when he suddenly gasped what he saw.

Laying half buried by rock was a massive golden spaceship, larger by far than the Maximal base, the Axalon, or the Predicon base, the Darkside. Maybe even larger than both bases combined. And unlike the other two bases, this was pretty much in tact.

"By the Matrix, what is that?" Silverbolt gasped.

"That bowser boy," Blackarachnia explained, "Is the ARK!"

"I've only heard legends," Silverbolt said in awe.

"It is more than a legend," Blackarachnia laughed, "Your ancestors, the Autobots, launched this Ark long ago." Blackarachnia paused and then added in a disgusted tone, "Containing their finest heroes."

"But the Ark was attacked by the Decepticons and crashed here," Blackarachnia explained before a large rumbling interrupted them.

"This ground is unstable," Silverbolt noted.

"Well, DUH," Blackarachnia retorted, "It's a volcano. When it explodes, our ancestors inside the Ark will awaken and begin the Great War."

"Then its power is immense," Silverbolt commented stepping toward the ship.

Blackarachnia was about to answer when a buzzing voice interrupted her.

"And it belongs to Megatron!" Waspinator announced firing two shots that knocked Blackarachnia and Silverbolt to ground. The wasp then chuckled at his success, "Oh, Waspinator got them!"

Silverbolt and Blackarachnia watched in shock as Waspinator then activated his com-link to the rest of the Predicons.

"Waspinator to Megatron," Waspinator responded, "Doggybot and spider have entered cave. Waspinator has then covered."

"How reassuring, yes," Megatron's voice echoed over the radio, "Do you remember the device I gave you?"

Blackarachnia's black optics widened as Waspinator pulled a small device out from a hidden compartment. She knew what was in that device.

"Yes," Waspinator answered.

"Press the blue button now," Megatron commanded.

"Waspinator obey," the wasp answered.

"NO!" Blackarachnia yelled as she leaped forward to stop the other Predicon.

But she was too late. Waspinator pressed the button, and just as soon as he did so, the device produced a small energon crystal. The crystal then exploded the device sending blue sparks in all directions. Waspinator, Blackarachnia, and Silverbolt, all in robot mode, began to convulse in waves of pain.

"Energon wave!" Blackarachnia exclaimed.

"Beast mo-," Silverbolt tried to command, but blacked out before hand.

**The Maximals…**

"I can see Megatron and others," Cheetor commented, "They're going into some sort of cave up ahead. What can that mean Optimus?"

"It means we're in trouble," Optimus answered.

**The Cave Entrance**

Megatron turned to Ravage, Rampage, and Quickstrike and looked at them directly.

"I will enter the cave and deal with the dog and Miss Arachnia," Megatron commanded, "You will remain out here to make sure no Maximal can gain access."

Rampage readied his weapon, "So long as I get to kill something."

Megatron nodded and entered the cave. After a few steps, Megatron turned and fired his tail gun at the rock ceiling behind him. The cave rumbled and a large pile of rocks fell, blocking the entrance. Megatron only smiled and continued. He found Blackarachnia, Silverbolt, and Waspinator all offline, lying on the ground. The Predicon tyrant removed a small device from inside his chest compartment and pointed it at Blackarachnia and pressed the button. Then Megatron continued toward the Ark.

Blackarachnia awoke to hear Megatron muse, "Ah, the Ark. So this is what your little traitorous mind was thinking of. Very interesting."

Blackarachnia snickered as Megatron was pushed back by the Ark's defensive fields.

"Shame you don't have the access codes from the disk," Blackarachnia commented.

"Oh, but I do," Megatron smiled as he turned to face her, "you downloaded the codes from my datatrax before you destroyed them. Didn't you?"

Megatron lifted his tail gun and began to power it up.

"I'm not going to give it to you," Blackarachnia said defiantly, "And if you kill me, you won't have the information anyway."

"Who said I was targeting you?" Megatron questioned as his tail gun came to full power and aimed at the offline Silverbolt, "Produce the codes or your little Labrador Lancelot will be blown to bits."

Blackarachnia only looked nervously at the offline Maximal.

**Outside**

Optimus and Cheetor landed to come under fire from Rampage, Quickstrike, and Ravage.

"Prime," Optimus commented, "Just what we need."

Cheetor fired three quick shots, while Optimus tried to target more carefully.

"Be careful Cheetor," Optimus warned, "We don't want to destroy the cave in doom Silverbolt."

"I'm more concerned about us," Cheetor commented as he ducked under a shot fired by Ravage.

Cheetor fired again, and his blasts luckily hit Quickstrike in the chest, blowing the fuzor into the rocks behind him. The others soon arrived behind them. Ravage took several hits from Rhinox's Gatling guns and Rattrap's blaster and fell offline, while Rampage was hit by Dinobot's lasers, Cheetor's blaster, Optimus's blasters, and Rapther's rockets. The large crab soon fell offline as well. As the smoke cleared, the rocks that were piled up in front of the cave entrance had been blown away.

"Lucky the cave didn't collapse," Rapther commented as she looked at the cracks in the rock from all the laser and missile explosions.

"Come on," Optimus waved to the others as he ran in, "We've got to stop Megatron."

**Inside**

"Kill him," Blackarachnia said calmly, "I don't care. The Maximals are probably close behind you. It'll be a waste of ammunition."

"True," Megatron smiled, as he readied to fire, "But I get to remove myself of one of my little problems."

Megatron fired. The blast hit Silverbolt's wing and blew it clean off, and sent the fuzor back ten feet. Megatron readied his weapon again and aimed for the other wing.

"The code," Megatron commanded coldly.

Blackarachnia turned her head as the sound of Optimus and the other Maximals working their way through another of Megatron's barriers reached her audio sensors.

"The code," Megatron commanded, increasing the power in his tail gun.

Just as Megatron prepared to fire, Blackarachnia finally turned and yelled, "Wait!"

Megatron smiled, "I knew you'd come around."

**Outside**

Dinobot threw another large rock back toward the entrance as the Maximals continued to work their way through large barriers that Megatron had left in their path. After what seemed like hours of work, they had finally got it thin enough that a blast wouldn't bring the whole cave down on them. Optimus was the one who fired on the barrier. The Maximals then entered the large cavern with a mixed look of shock and surprise.

"The Ark…" Dinobot said slowly.

"It can't be," Cheetor exclaimed.

"We're in for it now," Rattrap pointed out, "If Megabutt's gotten in there with Blackarachnia, they could blow us to bits."

"But the Ark was built for the Autobots," Rapther said, "As cybertronians evolved, we've become smaller but still more powerful. No Predicon or Maximal could operate the controls."

"Not all Autobots or Decepticons were as big as Optimus Prime or the original Megatron," Optimus answered, "We've got to get Megatron out of there before…"

Optimus was cut off as one of the Ark's plasma cannons turned and fired on the Maximals. Optimus and the others dove for cover. As Optimus moved to try and get closer, his foot bumped into the offline body of Silverbolt.

"Silverbolt?!" Optimus exclaimed, and then said weakly, "I told you she was deceiving you."

Dinobot came closer and examined the damage done to the fuzor.

"He is offline from some sort of energon surge," Dinobot reported, "If Blackarachnia were nearby she would have been a victim of the same device. And such a device could only operated by a transformer in its robot mode. Blackarachnia would put herself offline to deal with Silverbolt. Waspinator is over there and in the same condition."

"What are you saying?" Optimus questioned.

"I don't think the spider betrayed him," Dinobot said, "The damage done to his wings was done by an energy weapon, like my optics lasers… or Megatron's tail gun."

Rattrap meanwhile muttered, "It's going to be one tough eviction."

**Inside the Ark**

Blackarachnia slowly worked the control consoles that were built for the smaller transformers, which were probably killed when the Ark landed. Megatron stood smiling behind her.

"Excellent," Megatron smiled, "That will keep them busy, yes."

Megatron then turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Blackarachnia asked.

"Optimus is no fool," Megatron answered, "He will find away to break past the ship's defenses in time. I intend to forge a more… permanent solution before he does so."

**Outside**

"We can't blast through the shield," Rhinox said, "These ships were built to house a tremendous amount of power and use it far more efficiently then anything we have."

"Target the plasma cannon!" Optimus yelled, "Perhaps if we get it to backblast, we can get close enough to get in."

"That takes me and Rhinox out," Rapther growled as she ducked down, "Only energy weapons could do that! We'll move to get the door open once you blow up the gun."

Dinobot the others turned to firing on the powerful cannon. Slowly and surely, the cannon's own fire began to inch backward toward the barrel itself. Soon after, the cannon suddenly exploded from the backblast, and Rhinox and Rapther ran forward to work the door.

**Inside the Ark**

The Maximal change in tactics caused the weapons console to spark and eventually explode sending Blackarachnia stumbling back.

Meanwhile Megatron was in a different room of the Ark. He had converted to vehicle mode and flew over the stasis locked bodies of large Decepticons and Autobots.

"Ah, to enter here in triumph," Megatron smiled, "Blackarachnia's treachery has once more proved useful, yes. For here is where the Great War will begin, and in a specific future where the Autobots will defeat the Decepticons, causing the Maximals to rule over the Predicons."

Megatron paused in front of a single large Autobot, sitting in a command chair. The Predicon tyrant shifted to his robot mode, but kept his fan jets active.

"But now," Megatron screamed in triumph, "Now time itself will change! Computer, full power to primary weapon!"

Megatron's onboard computer then responded, "Acknowledged."

**Outside**

It took awhile for Rapther and Rhinox to manage to get the ramp open.

"Dinobot, get Silverbolt to a CR chamber if you can," Optimus commanded, "Rapther, help him. If you run into Blackarachnia, bring her to me. Alive. The rest of you, you're with me. We've got to stop Megatron."

**Inside**

Megatron hovered over the offline body of the Optimus Prime with his tail gun glowing with power inside it.

"Primary weapon at full power," Megatron's onboard computer announced.

"And now in triumph," Megatron roared, "For the memory of the Decepticons. For the glory of the Predicons. And for the Cybertron that will be mine to rule… I bid you Optimus Prime a hateful farewell."

Megatron fired. The think armor of Optimus Prime was no match for the powered energy from Megatron's tail gun. The blast went straight through the Autobot leader and exploded in the chair behind him. Inside the large Autobot, all systems that were keeping Optimus Prime's spark alive began to fail and the Autobot began to slowly die.

At that moment Optimus Primal, Rattrap, Rhinox, and Cheetor arrived to see the damage done.

"NO!" Optimus yelled.

"Victory is mine!" Megatron screamed in triumph as a spiraling timestorm began to wrap itself around the ship and the Maximals.

**To Be Continued…**


	4. Chapter 4

Beast Wars and all characters and things related are copyright and trademark of Hasbro and Mainframe Entertainment. This work, however, is the original work of the author.

Note: This story takes place shortly after "The Battle in the Valley".

Beyond Earth, Chapter 4

By TVfan

**Cybertron, Maximal Elders Chambers**

The leaders of Maximal Elders were startled by a strange occurrence which seemed to be traveling throughout the universe. It looked as if the walls of space and time were being ripped apart.

"What is happening?" one of the elders asked.

"It's a time storm!" another answered, "What its affects will be we won't know until it passes."

The first elder gasped at the words and then looked at his hand, as the metal fingers began to seemingly fade away.

**Prehistoric Earth, the Ark**

Dinobot had just placed Silverbolt in one of the Ark's smaller CR chambers when the time storm wrapped itself around the Ark and anything connected with the planet Cybertron.

"By the Pit," the male raptor cursed.

"Dinobot!" Rapther yelled in desperation.

He turned to see the female raptor standing looking at her arms as they seemed to vanish in and out of time.

"Dinobot, what's happening?" Rapther asked nervously.

"I… I…," Dinobot stuttered.

"It's the affect of a time storm," came Blackarachnia's voice from around the corner of the room, "Megatron's done something to alter time and the future."

Dinobot looked at Rapther and watched as various pieces of her body were affected by the time storm. He glanced at Blackarachnia and inwardly smiled.

"Something must be done to stop this," Dinobot replied as he began to leave the room.

"Why?" Blackarachnia sneered, "You're only a Maximal by personal allegiance. By 'genetics' you are a Predicon. Like me."

"Yes," Dinobot snarled, "We are very much alike. By birth we belong to the faction we ally ourselves against."

"What?" Blackarachnia asked.

"Look at your beast mode legs!" Rapther exclaimed, realizing Dinobot's point.

Blackarachnia looked at her arms and at the thin machine gun blasters that served as her beast mode's legs, and saw that they were vanishing in and out of time, just as Rapther was.

"While I am a Predicon allied with the Maximals," Dinobot continued, "You are a Maximal allied with the Predicons. Of course for you, that means that if the Predicons win, they must win with honor and not taking short cuts, like altering time. Megatron would never fight with honor. Your loyalty to him has cost you your own life."

"And where are you going?" Blackarachnia challenged.

Dinobot turned and with an ironic smile answered, "To save you."

Meanwhile, Megatron gloated in his victory.

"I've won!" Megatron screamed, "I've finally won!"

"Rhinox, is there anyway to stop the time storm?" Optimus turned to he old friend.

"Prime's spark is strong, but it can't survive without a body," Rhinox answered while the others looked up at Megatron, "We need to repair the damage that Megatron has done."

"And like Megatron's gonna let us," Rattrap cut in, "We're all gonna die."

"We need to get Megatron out of here before we can repair Prime's body," Optimus announced, "And we gotta do it fast."

**Cybertron, Tripredicus Council Headquarters**

"The time storm seems to only be affecting the Maximals," General Ramhorn commented, "Perhaps this will be for our best interest."

"This has to be Megatron's doing," General Seaclamp pointed out, "I doubt that this will help us."

"Please explain," General Cicadacon questioned, "With the Maximals gone, we will be free to claim Cybertron as our own."

"It's a TIME STORM!" General Seaclamp roared, "If the time storm is erasing the Maximals, then that means someone has altered the past. And altered it in such a way that the Maximal race would not live. As we all know, the Ark is on Earth in the past with the offline bodies of the Autobots and the Decepticons. But unlike the Maximals, we know Megatron is there. This has to be his doing. He must have found the Ark."

"Have we heard from Ravage?" General Ramhorn asked.

"Not recently," General Cicadacon answered, "I tried contacting him before the time storm hit, but only received static over the radio channels. I believe his ship may have been destroyed."

"Should we send a new agent?" General Seaclamp asked.

Ramhorn leaned back in his chair, "Not at this time. The Maximal Elders will surely notice that we're up to something if we try."

"Slag," General Cicadacon cursed.

**Prehistoric Earth, the Ark**

Rapther and Blackarachnia staggered through the Ark's passageways following the path that Dinobot had taken earlier.

"Why are you in such a hurry to help him?" Blackarachnia challenged.

"Because he's risking possibly everything to help us," Rapther retorted, "But then, you wouldn't understand that, would you?"

Blackarachnia ignored the female raptor as the two continued.

Dinobot had meanwhile arrived at the Megatron's location and snarled at the scene that was developing in front of him.

"Aw, Dinobot," Megatron laughed, "Come to witness the fall of your comrades?"

"I am here to stop YOU, Megatron," Dinobot growled, drawing his sword and tail spinner.

"But Dinobot," Megatron laughed, motioning toward the damaged Optimus Prime, "I've already won. There is nothing you can do."

"Then you will give me the pleasure of defeating you," Dinobot growled.

"What is he doing?" Cheetor asked quietly to Optimus.

Optimus Primal watched as Dinobot began to walk toward Megatron's location, "I don't know, but it will give us the time to repair Optimus Prime, Rhinox find something we can use. We've got to fix him before he goes offline, permanently."

It was Megatron who fired at Dinobot first with his tail gun. Dinobot was fortunate to deflect the blast with his tail spinner, but the shield device would be useless if Megatron attacked again using the same tactic.

"Dinobot!" Optimus yelled, "You've got to get him out of here!"

Dinobot nodded and fired his optics lasers at the Predicon tyrant, hitting him squarely in the chest. Megatron received little damage, but was pushed back and lost control of his flight path, since his vertical lift turbofans worked better in his vehicle mode than in his robot mode. Dinobot fired his optics lasers again, as Megatron tried to regain his flight path and hit the Predicon leader in the back. The force of the hit forced Megatron to go flying through a large door into another part of the ship. Dinobot raced after him.

"Let's get to work," Optimus said, motioning toward the damaged Optimus Prime, "We have little time."

Rapther and Blackarachnia entered the room a few minutes later to find Optimus and Rhinox scrambling around Optimus Prime's chest and examining the damage done to the historic Autobot by Megatron.

"What are you doing?" Blackarachnia demanded.

"What does it look like we're doin'?" Rattrap retorted, "Repaired the greatest transformer in history!"

"Repairing him is the easy part," Rhinox commented.

"What's da hard part then?" Rattrap asked.

"The damage Megatron did to him is too extensive to repair without removing his spark," Optimus sighed while motioning to the damage.

"But while Optimus Prime's spark is powerful, it can't survive without a body," Rhinox added, "And with this body damaged, Prime will die. Once Prime dies, the Decepticons will win the Great War and eradicate the Autobots, and thus the Maximals. Thus, why you Blackarachnia, are affected by the current time storm."

"Dinobot already lectured me on this," Blackarachnia answered defiantly.

"Then you should finally understand why Silverbolt was trying to persuade you to leave Megatron," Optimus growled ignoring his work on Optimus Prime, "And you are responsible for the damage he's suffered."

Blackarachnia found herself unable to argue.

"Megatron will whatever it takes to win," Optimus continued, "And since he doesn't care about the well being of his followers, he won't care what their fate is. For Silverbolt's sake, join us now, or no one will be able to save you."

"This is all nice and all," Cheetor cut in, "But what about Prime?"

Optimus looked at the youngest Maximal and then at Rhinox, "If his spark needs a body, than it will get a body."

Megatron landed face down in another large room behind the room that housed Optimus Prime. When he got to his feet, Dinobot, sword in hand, was already at the entrance.

"Come now Dinobot," Megatron said, "In a few minutes the Maximals will be no more. This battle will not matter."

"Perhaps," Dinobot replied, while slashing out with his sword, only doing minor damage to Megatron's transmetal armor, "Or perhaps if you die now, you won't be able to come back here to destroy Optimus Prime. I'd imagine that even if you succeed, you'll have to destroy Prime again the altered future."

Megatron fired his tail gun at the male raptor and knocked him against the far wall.

"Very well," Megatron smiled, "Then perhaps an alternative source of power is necessary, yes."

Megatron looked around while Dinobot looked to recover from the shot Megatron had just given him. The Predicon tyrant spotted the large form of an offline transformer that wasn't in the other room, and it was chained, as if it were imprisoned in its current location.

"Going back in time should be the easy part, Dinobot," Megatron smiled as he turned back to the raptor, "The problem would be remembering TO go back, but your little speech here gave me the idea on where to get that reminder."

Megatron fired his tail gun again, hitting Dinobot squarely in the chest sending the male raptor offline.

**The other room**

"You can't do this Optimus," Rhinox cautioned, "His spark is too powerful. You can't take it inside YOUR body."

"We don't have any choice," Optimus answered, "We don't have a stasis unit that could act as a body until Prime's real body is repaired."

"Why don't we use her instead," Rattrap asked motioning to Blackarachnia, "If it works, she gets to say she saved her butt, and if Prime's spark is too much for her? No loss."

Blackarachnia tried to smack the transmetal rat, but the effects of the time storm caused her one hand to disappear.

"Whatever we do, we gotta do it quick!" Cheetor yelled with some urgency as his whole body began to disappear in the time storm's current.

Optimus opened his chest compartment, revealing his spark and placed it right over the spot where Optimus Prime's spark was contained.

"Open his spark chamber," Optimus commanded to Rhinox.

"May Primus help us all," Rhinox muttered as he took out some tools that he had with him and opened Optimus Prime's spark chamber.

All the Maximals and Blackarachnia watched as the brightly glowing spark rose up out of the Autobot leader's chest and made its way into Optimus Primal's body. Once Optimus felt the spark inside him, he closed his chest compartment, and almost instantly, the time storm stopped. All the Maximals were in back in perfect condition.

"What happened?" Cheetor asked.

"Prime's spark has stabilized," Blackarachnia answered, "No the only question is if Primal can withstand Prime's power."

Optimus suddenly grunted and fell to the ground before staggering to his feet. He could feel Prime's spark somehow affecting him.

"Optimus are you alright?" Cheetor asked, rushing to his leader's side.

Optimus only growled in pain as his armor suddenly began to shift and change. The Maximal commander also looked like he was getting bigger and a large ring of light began to form around him as the power from Optimus Prime's spark began affect him even more. Suddenly Optimus cried out and the light around him burst, blinding everyone.

When the light dimmed, everyone began to gather what happened.

"Optimus?" Rapther asked.

"I'm fine," came the Maximal leader's answer, "Better than fine, in fact."

When they saw Optimus, everyone's jaws dropped at the sight of their leader. The color of his feet and hands now ranged between a dark brown to dull yellow, and looked as though they actually had toes. His shins were blue and his thighs were silver. His torso and chest was also mostly dark brown or dull yellow, except for a glass casing containing Optimus Prime's spark, which glowed brightly. His forearms were silver and his upper arms were dark brown with large grey jet-like wings attached to them. His head looked much like it did when the Maximals first came to Earth, but was now different colors. The helmet was mostly blue, but parts of it were also dull yellow. The bands that went under his chin and over his nose were blue and the metallic skin underneath was a cross between white and silver. Light green optics also glowed brightly with the determination of both Optimus Primal and Optimus Prime.

"Optimus?" Cheetor asked.

"Yes, it's me," Optimus answered, "New parts, but it's still me."

There was little time for anymore mentions of awe at the new form that Optimus had taken, for a few seconds later, the back wall behind them exploded in a roar of flames and a large dragon flew into the room with the offline body of Dinobot in its claws. It was mostly red, but its underbelly, tail, and parts of its wings were yellow.

"I see we had the same idea, Optimus Primal, yes," Megatron laughed as he threw the offline Dinobot at them.

Optimus caught the raptor and laid him down near Rapther.

"What has that guy done to himself?" Cheetor asked.

"Just what your courageous leader has done," Megatron laughed, "Dinobot pointed out that even if the time storm that resulted in the damaging of Optimus Prime assured my victory, I would still have to come back here to do it…"

"But without the spark of the ORIGINAL Megatron, you probably wouldn't remember to do it, and time would restore itself," Optimus finished.

"Yes," Megatron nodded, "And now, you must deal with both Megatrons."

The Maximals looked on in horror, and Rapther never took her eyes of Dinobot. Megatron then tilted his head toward Blackarachnia.

"Come now, Miss Arachnia, I still have further use for you," Megatron sneered as he dove down toward her.

Blackarachnia only opened up with her machine guns, hitting Megatron in the head, wings, arms, and shoulders. The great dragon only roared and sped onward.

"I won't let you use me!" Blackarachnia answered defiantly, "Not when you're willing to kill off all the Maximals. Don't forget that I was once a MAXIMAL PROTOFORM! I won't allow a Predicon victory at the cost of my death!"

Megatron gave her no answer but continued to approach her. As he got closer, Megatron opened his mouth and blasted Blackarachnia with a blast of practically energized ice, freezing Blackarachnia in her tracks. Megatron only smiled as he sped forward.

Luckily for Blackarachnia, a large hand hit Megatron in his side and knocked the Predicon tyrant off course and he crashed into the wall in front of him.

"I'll deal with Megatron," Optimus commanded, "The rest of you, check to see what, if any, damage Megatron has to the original Megatron. Rhinox, get to work on repairing Prime."

"But Optimus!" Rhinox protested, "If you're destroyed, Prime's spark will die."

"And if Megatron is destroyed, the original Megatron's spark will die," Optimus answered, "We're both in the same boat. Neither of us can go all out against the other."

Optimus then rushed forward and grabbed Megatron in tight 'bear hug' and lifted the Predicon tyrant off the ground.

"Let's take this fight, outside, shall we?" Optimus said as he activated rockets in the heals of each foot.

With that, Optimus took off with Megatron in his arms for the exit to the Ark.

"He seems to get used to new bodies awfully quick," Cheetor commented.

"Whaddya expect?" Rattrap retorted, "He changes them often enough!"

"Quiet you too," Rhinox ordered, "We got work to do."

Rapther lifted the offline Dinobot into her arms and began to walk off, "I'll get Dinobot to a CR chamber."

**Outside the Mountain**

Megatron finally managed to break free of Optimus's grip once the now giant Maximal leader had gotten away from the Ark.

"Afraid to have your followers watch you die, Optimus Primal?" Megatron taunted.

"More afraid of what you would do to the transformers sleeping in the Ark," Optimus answered, "Why did you do this, Megatron?"

"Power," Megatron smiled, "And because I needed something to remind me to come back here once your faction is destroyed."

Megatron, still in beast mode began to breathe fire down on Optimus, but Maximal leader raised one arm and blocked the fire with special pieces of armor. Afterward, Optimus checked his arm to see that such a maneuver wouldn't work again. Megatron had melted those extra pieces of armor on his hands.

"Alright," Optimus answered opening his chest compartment, revealing two large gun barrels.

**Inside the Ark**

Cheetor shuddered as the sound of another explosion rocked the mountain, shortly followed by a rumble from the volcano.

"Are you sure we shouldn't try to help him?" Cheetor asked.

"Optimus can deal with Megatron," Rhinox answered, "Our priority needs to be repairing Optimus Prime. Besides, it looked to me that both Optimus and Megatron's armor was upgraded. We'd have to aim to kill to even put a dent in Megatron."

"And what's dah problem with killing Megatron?" Rattrap demanded.

Rhinox set his tool down with a frustrated sigh, he wouldn't get anything done if he had to keep answering these questions, "Because if Megatron is destroyed, the spark of the original Megatron will die and a time storm just as bad as the one that Megatron tried to unleash by damaging Optimus Prime would be unleashed."

"You win," Rattrap conceded as he tossed Rhinox another tool.

Rapther had just placed Dinobot in another CR chamber as another rumble from inside the volcano shook the ship. She checked the chamber that Silverbolt was in and saw that he wasn't ready yet and new that the frozen Blackarachnia would need to be placed in a third CR chamber. The ground rumbled again shortly thereafter.

"As if things can't get any worse," Rapther muttered.

**Outside**

Megatron easily dodged the blast the Optimus fired from the large guns mounted on his chest, but while Megatron was busy dodging, Optimus shifted into a vehicle mode that resembled a strange jet and charged straight at Megatron. The same guns that were earlier in his chest were now on his back and firing in rapid succession. Five shots hit Megatron's wings and one hit his lower back.

This gave Optimus the time to catch Megatron, grabbing the Predicon tyrant with his hands by the wings and quickly diving toward the ground at supersonic speeds. Optimus slammed Megatron to the ground, head first, in an attempt to knock him out. Megatron only shifted to his robot mode and flung Optimus off of him. Optimus landed on the ground a few feet away in robot mode.

"You can't win," Megatron sneered has he leveled one arm at Optimus, which was his neck and head in robot mode.

"I can't let you win," Optimus answered back and he opened his chest compartment to fire his own weapons.

The both fired and the shots exploded in the air between them as they came in contact with each other. Both transformers pulled themselves up to find each was slightly damaged by the fire. Optimus then charged on foot and punched Megatron while the Predicon leader was still regaining his balance.

"Optimus," came Rhinox's voice over the radio, "We have Prime about fixed, has Megatron been subdued."

"Getting there," Optimus answered as he ducked under a punch thrown at him by Megatron's dragon head hand.

The Maximal leader then dodged another punch thrown at him by Megatron's normal hand and kicked the side of Megatron's left knee. The blow dropped Megatron to his knees and before the Predicon tyrant could lift himself up, Optimus stepped on his dragon's head hand and grabbed Megatron by the back of the neck.

"You've lost, Megatron," Optimus said as brought his other hand down on Megatron's head knocking the now red transformer out.

**Inside the Ark**

"We'd best deal with Megatron first," Optimus said to Rhinox while Rapther placed a series of energy restraints on the Predicon tyrant.

Rhinox nodded as he pushed a large hover board that was carrying the unconscious body of Megatron. They soon arrived at the offline body of the chained original Megatron. Rhinox moved into a position and opened the ancient Decepticon's chest compartment while Optimus lifted Megatron up to him. Rhinox then carefully pressed a hidden button that they had found on Megatron's chest plate to open the dragon transformer's chest compartment. The original Megatron's spark once freed flew into the nearest open space, the spark chamber of the original Megatron. Once that was done, Rhinox shut the chest compartments of both transformers.

"Now, Prime," Optimus said, "Bring Megatron with us. I don't want him out of where I can see him."

Rhinox nodded as the two transformers returned to the other chamber. Rhinox had left the ancient Autobot leader's chest compartment open to allow for greater ease in the spark transfer when Optimus returned. Optimus activated the rockets on his feet and flew up to Optimus Prime's chest and released Prime's spark from the containment unit that it was in. Prime's chest compartment automatically closed as Prime's spark settled inside Optimus Prime's body.

"Hopefully this is the end of everything now," Optimus sighed.

"Afraid not," Rhinox said, "While you were battling with Megatron, Rapther activated some of the Ark's computers to monitor the seismic activity in this sector."

"Seismic?" Optimus asked, "We're not on a fault line."

"True," Rhinox replied, "But the Ark is embedded in a volcano. We've already noticed that the volcano was unstable when we arrived, but according to the computers, it's ready to blow at any minute."

"Prime," Optimus cursed.

"The good thing is that the Ark can easily withstand the volcanic heat," Rhinox said, "But there is a chance we could be buried in here."

The rumbling returned again. This time stronger. And it didn't look like it was about to let up.

"It's blowing now!" Optimus exclaimed.

And at that moment, the volcano the Ark was sitting over did blow. Hot magma shot upward into the air. The alien metals used on Cybertron in constructing the Ark protected it from the lava, but the rock that made the cave wasn't and the force of lava's upheaval cracked it extensively. The rock contained the lava from flowing into the surrounding land, but the structural integrity of the caves was destroyed, and the top part of the mountaintop began to fall apart.

The mountaintop fell down, much of the rock falling into the resettling lava and melting away, while much of the rest of it fell on top of the Ark. The ship's auto guns were crushed, but the ship otherwise remained undamaged. Once everything had settled, the Ark was buried under rock and the former lava pool of the volcano had been filled in by falling rock and part of it had actually cooled.

While all this was going on, Megatron was jolted off the hover board he was laying on and aroused back into consciousness. He snarled at finding himself tied up by the energy binds, but found they were not designed to withstand his strength. Noticing that Optimus and Rhinox were busy watching a nearby computer screen, Megatron slowly opened his wings and threw out his arms, roaring as the restraining devices finally came free.

Optimus and Rhinox turned to find Megatron free once again and prepared to fire on him, when the Predicon leader shot a blast of fire at them from his dragon's head hand. Optimus and Rhinox easily dodged the blast, but the computer console was destroyed.

Megatron was about to try again when a barrage of laser bullets hit him in the back.

"Yah ain't gonna cause any more trouble," Rattrap warned as he cocked his gun to fire again.

Megatron glanced at Rattrap and turned to see Rapther and Cheetor coming at them from another portion of the ship to join Optimus and Rhinox. He couldn't win and he wouldn't get another chance at this time at Optimus Prime.

"This isn't over," Megatron growled as he lifted into the air and shifted into his beast mode and flew out of the room.

"After him!" Optimus yelled.

Megatron flew at full speed for the ship's exit with the Maximals in hot pursuit. The Maximals, were however, unfortunately unable to catch the Predicon tyrant before he could blast through the main entrance to the Ark and then through the layer of rock that covered it. The Maximals stopped with a defeated look as Megatron flew off into the sky toward the Predicon base.

"At least we got an exit now," Rattrap quipped.

"We should have used stronger restraints," Rapther added.

Optimus looked the most defeated of the entire group, "That doesn't matter what we've gained or what we should have done. The point is, he's escaped, and the Beast Wars will continue. We've let another chance to end this war, slip away. And I doubt we'll be able to go home."

"Don't worry, Big Bot," Cheetor encouraged, "We'll beat Megatron and you'll eventually find a way home. You can do it, Big Bot."

"I hope you're right," Optimus answered, his optics on Megatron's retreating form.

**The End**


End file.
